Jonathan Fernando Suárez Freitez (born 8 December 1982, in San Félix, Bolívar) is a Venezuelan professional

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

cyclist. Dubbed by his sporting fans as ''El Mosquito'', Suarez has been highly considered a solid, all-around BMX rider in Latin America, and more importantly, one of the world's top cruisers in the sport. He won two men's cruiser medals, including his gold, at the

UCI BMX World Championships UCI BMX World Championships are the world championships for BMX racing (bicycle motocross) held under the regulations of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the sport's international governing body. The UCI BMX World Championships are held an ...

, and later represented his nation

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. Suarez sought headlines on the international scene by edging out Filipino-American rider Daniel Caluag, who previously represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, for a prestigious gold medal in men's cruiser at the 2007 UCI BMX World Championships in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada. He also collected a silver medal to his career hardware in men's BMX cycling at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

on that same year, trailing behind 33-year-old U.S. rider Jason Richardson by less than a second. Suarez qualified for the Venezuelan squad, as the nation's sole rider, in men's BMX cycling at the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

by receiving an automatic berth from the

Union Cycliste Internationale The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing ...

based on his top-ten performance from the BMX World Rankings. Suarez started his morning session by grabbing the eighth prelims seed in 36.325 seconds, but he could not match a more stellar ride in his quarterfinal heat with 17 positioning points and a fifth-place finish, narrowly missing out on the semifinals by a six-point deficit.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez, Jonathan 1982 births Living people Venezuelan male cyclists BMX riders Olympic cyclists for Venezuela Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for Venezuela Pan American Games medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2007 Pan American Games Cyclists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games UCI BMX World Champions (elite men) Sportspeople from Bolívar (state) 20th-century Venezuelan people 21st-century Venezuelan people Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games